Breeze Takes Championship Lead After Win In Brands
Championship contender Carl Breeze took a superb lights-to-flag victory at Brands Hatch, to take the championship lead off Tom Sharp in Round 24 of the Ginetta GT Supercup.
When the lights went out, Breeze got of the line well and managed to hold the lead into Paddock Hill Bend with Tom Sharp, Adam Morgan and Nathan Freke close behind.
The safety car was brought out on lap 3 after Jake Hill stopped in the gravel at Stirling’s bend, but the racing was underway in a couple of laps.
Breeze was under pressure the whole race from his championship contenders, but he kept his cool and took a well deserved victory, with Tom Sharp and Adam Morgan rounding off the top three.
“Recently I’ve not been getting great starts so I’m really happy we made a fantastic getaway today”, said the new points leader, “I held the lead at Paddock and tried to get the hammer down, which we did, but then the dreaded Safety Car came out.
“I just had to relax at the re-start and after that we seemed to be able to stay ahead well. Through the Grand Prix section of the circuit, Hawthorn, Westfield and Sheene, I was leaving nothing to spare through there – I was pretty much on the ragged edge and that gave us breathing space when we came back on to the Indy loop. Psychologically this win is really important for the championship”.
Second Placed man Tom Sharp rued not being on pole position for the race but was pleased with second place.
“We majorly missed out by not getting pole”, said Sharp, “If we had pole we might have won today but second is still good. In these cars, they rely so much on the front splitter round the back of the circuit – it’s very fast and very tight and as soon as you get three car lengths behind someone, it’s enough to push you maybe two car lengths wider than you want and you can end up off the track.
“That’s what we struggled with really, we had to rely on a mistake from Carl (Breeze) and he didn’t make one. It’s all good though, we finished second and take the championship fight on to the next race where we can hopefully make a better start and get the lead at the first corner. Our car has been mega all weekend, really planted, so we should be strong again tomorrow.”
In the G50 class eighth placed man Aaron Williamson took his fourth win of the season, the FML driver crossed the line 2.6 seconds ahead of Andrew Richardson who he passed for the G50 lead on lap five after climbing through from fifth in class at the start of the race.
G50 Cup points leader Tom Ingram battled through from sixth in class to third with a strong drive and, in doing so, increased his advantage over Jody Fannin in the championship to 85 points on drop scores. Fannin ended the race fifth in G50, behind Louise Richardson.
“Starting fifth on the grid, we battled all the way through the race. When I got by Andrew (Richardson) for the lead, I knew how quick he was – he’s quick everywhere – but this is one of my favourite tracks and somewhere I’ve gone well before so I thought we could stay ahead. Williamson commented
“It was quite handy having the G55 (Watts) just ahead as it kept my concentration on going forward rather than looking in my mirrors all the time. The heat today was a killer, in the first few laps of battling you try not to let it affect you too much as there’s so much going on but towards the end it starts to take its toll. Fitness was key today, the hard work we’ve done on that has really paid off.”
For full race classification click here.
For full championship standings click here.
Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey (http://www.jakobebrey.com)
Nico Aaron Ugbaja
